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Is it true Omar Khadr deal saved Canada millions?

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in teacher-mode Wednesday when he tried to school an angry heckler — and, by extension, all Canadians — on the Omar Khadr settlement.

Yes, the government paid the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner $10.5 million. But, Trudeau said, the taxpayer cost to compensate Khadr for his ordeal could have been higher if the government chose to continue its court battle with him and his lawyers.

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr, shown in Mississauga last summer, received a $10.5 million payout from the Canadian government. Justin Trudeau argues the cost would have been much higher if the government chose to continue its court battle with him. (Colin Perkel / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)

“I hate as a teacher to reward bad behaviour,” Trudeau said, responding to a woman who hectored him from the bleachers during his town hall session at a McMaster University gymnasium Wednesday.

“The anger that some people feel, and that a lot of people feel, about the payment the government made to Omar Khadr is real,” he said.

“The fact that, if we had extended that court case, it was almost certainly going to cost us in the realm of $30 to $40 million, is a bit of a consolation.”

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That line, and his subsequent assertion the Khadr case should serve as a reminder that “we all pay” when governments allow a Canadian’s rights to be violated, has been uttered before. It’s been his standard explanation when asked about the settlement.

And that begs the question: did the Khadr settlement actually save Canada millions of dollars?

The Prime Minister’s Office would not speak on-the-record about Trudeau’s estimate. But legal experts said Thursday it’s not farfetched to say an extended court battle over Canada’s culpability for what happened to Khadr could have been much more expensive than the $10.5 million payout.

Dennis Edney, one of Khadr’s lawyers, said the costs “absolutely” could have been higher.

After all, the now-31-year-old Khadr was suing the Canadian government for $20 million. The man who was captured in Afghanistan at age 15 in July 2002 confessed to the killing of American Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer as part of a plea deal to get out of the notorious U.S. military jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In his lawsuit against the government, he alleged he was tortured, abused, and subjected to “inhuman and degrading treatment” and false imprisonment.

On top of that, in a ruling that led to his return to Canada where he served out the end of his Guantanamo prison sentence, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously agreed Khadr’s rights were violated when Canadian officials interviewed him as a youth without legal representation while he was being deprived of sleep at the U.S. military prison.

“I could go on forever (about) the amount of abuses and disregard … towards this guy,” Edney said. “I think they got off easy with $10.5 million.”

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Paul Champ, a litigation lawyer in Ottawa who focuses on human rights and national security, said the government was going to lose the lawsuit “for sure.”

Justin Trudeau told an Ontario town hall meeting that he shares the “anger” of many Canadians over the government’s settlement with Omar Khadr. The prime minister was responding to a heckler at the Wednesday event in Hamilton. (The Canadian Press)

But he added the Khadr case is so exceptional it’s difficult to estimate damages a court would have awarded in the end, with notable cases such as that of David Milgaard ending in a $10 million settlement in 1999 and Steven Truscott receiving $6.5 million in 2008.

“Should there be greater damages in the context of Omar Khadr, given that he was imprisoned in a location where conditions were far worse than Canadian prisons? And furthermore that he was tortured or subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment with the knowledge and — in a sense — complicity of the Government of Canada,” Champ said.

“Would all of those factors lead to much greater damages than $10 million? Very possibly.”

Aside from hefty damages, Champ said national security cases like this would also come with added court costs. These include hiring neutral lawyers known as “friends of the court” to assist with documents from several jurisdictions that have to be carefully handled and redacted, he said.

“That whole process is enormously time-consuming and expensive for the government,” Champ said.

In a blog post written after the $10.5-settlement was reported last summer, University of Ottawa lawyer Craig Forcese outlined his estimate that a trial on the Khadr lawsuit could have cost as much as $40 million. He pointed to the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian who was deported to Syria and tortured in prison. A commission that reviewed his case cost $20 million, and Arar received a $10 million settlement in 2007.

On Khadr, Forcese wrote: “I think an all-in number in the $30-40 million range, including damages, costs to the court, etc. was very possible, even likely, and maybe even low-balling.”

Of course, these figures are just educated guesses. Barry Swadron, a Toronto lawyer with years of experience in human rights and police abuse cases, said it’s impossible to know precisely how much a Khadr case would have cost without more information.

Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Omar Khadr says in July he hopes a settlement reached with the federal government – reportedly for $10.5 million – won’t “cause people pain.” The Liberals also apologized to Khadr in settling a lawsuit over violations of his rights. (The Canadian Press)

Edney, Khadr’s lawyer, said the aim for the settlement was to arrive at a figure — $10.5 million — that most Canadians would accept as fair. To his surprise, many people appear to disagree that it is.

“The abuse that Omar went through, they don’t seem to be worried about that. It’s more about money,” he said.

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